


Evolving Partnerships

by Merfilly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Friends to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-28
Updated: 2016-04-28
Packaged: 2018-06-05 00:42:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6682570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two years after the fall of the Republic, a clone Captain goes seeking the part of his life he wants as direction. Fortunately, she's already got a mission for them to share...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Evolving Partnerships

**Author's Note:**

> Fic takes place between 17 - 16 BBY, placing Ahsoka's age at 19 - 20.

Rex, once a Captain, once a Number, was now simply a clone in search of a person, maybe even a duty. When he'd left his unit behind, he had intended to go back. Unfortunately, the galaxy had gone to _dar'yaim_ , and being a clone was not necessarily a bankable lifestyle. He kept his face hidden mostly, around strangers, slowly finding ones like himself that had escaped the horror inflicted on them all. He salted them away with a few people he trusted, teaching them to live in masks or make-up.

Two years had passed, though, and he was looking for someone that was distinctly not a clone. She had the clone interests at heart maybe, unless she had been polluted by whatever darkness had claimed their general. The problem fell into the fact that tracking a single individual, especially a Force-using one, across a galaxy was damned hard.

He wound up on Felucia, chasing a rumor, and found himself pinned down on his face, held there by the natives as their mistress, guardian, or whatever sized him up.

At least she was the right species.

"Master Ti," he said, and the pressure was increased, threatening to bring his arms out of sockets. They'd taken his mask, and then the violence had begun… but he'd been careful to not resist, having already caught sight of art depicting graceful montrals rising above stylized lekku.

"Tell me why you are here, Trooper, and know that I will sense your lies," she warned him.

He twisted his head to the side, so the scar that showed there was visible to her. "No chip, Master Jedi. I came seeking another of your species, and would never, on my life, harm one of your Order who is still in the Light."

"Name, rank, unit?"

"Rex, Captain, 501st… before that monster took it."

He didn't know if it was the anger in his voice, or just how open he was being, but the natives pulled away, and it was the tall, stately Togruta who knelt, helping him to where he could stand, before she drew him up alongside her.

"My people look to me for guidance; in turn, they protect me," she said gently. "I must serve the Force, Rex, and preserve or share what knowledge I have. Now, come, and I will give you hospitality for what you endured."

"No offense ma'am, but you are not the one I hoped you would be, and I need to see where the trail might have gone to her instead, as soon as I can," Rex said.

"You seek Tano. You will need rest, food, and supplies, if you are to succeed," Shaak Ti told him.

"Master Ti?" he asked, confused, but hope growing within him.

"It is no difficult thing; she left before the Purge, and you served with her. As you are free of the slave device, she is safe from you, but getting to her will be difficult. She is not Jedi, by her choice, yet the Force is her ally, and strong with her. She trains, far from here, guided solely by her connection to the Living Force," Shaak Ti told him. "I have touched her awareness, a handful of times, and will point you in her direction."

"Then, I accept your hospitality, Master Ti," Rex said. If she could guide him, it might not take two more years to pick up the trail.

* * *

One thing about staying on Felucia for three days was that Rex now knew that other Jedi had survived the Purge, and there was a growing resistance to the Empire. Perhaps, some day soon, Rex and his brothers would strike down those that had destroyed their honor. 

That was all for later. He was going out past the hyperspace lanes, out to a world he'd never heard of called Revyia. He and Master Shaak Ti had studied the galactic charts, and the Jedi was certain that was the general sense of where Rex could find his Commander. He had supplies in his ship, a very basic nav-droid that wasn't smart enough to talk back to him like an astromech might have, and hope.

 _When you find her, I think you will find purpose,_ Shaak Ti had said, before seeing his ship off.

"I have all the purpose I need, just in finding her," Rex muttered to himself. He had made it his goal, to unite with her and bring her back to the _Vod'e_ he had found so far. Maybe, with her help, they'd find more, save them, keep going until they could start hurting the growing empire.

If he was going to dream, he was going to dream big.

* * *

Ahsoka Tano, once the padawan of the Hero with No Fear, lived a dangerous life. When she was in the Core, she was consorting with those who sought to pull down the Empire. When she was out in the edges of the Galaxy, she was embracing the Force as her very existence, letting it guide her in meditation and exercise alike. There was little inside the so-called Living Force that she feared, as it had called out to her the moment the Purge began, sending her plunging away from the settlement on Saleucami and into her ship before the garrison could hunt her down. She'd lived there for over a month, and had befriended the troops; they knew her face and name yet she heard them hunting 'The Jedi' in the small village before she had roared out in her modified scout ship which she had acquired from her allies in the Core. None of their shots had landed, and she'd spent a very paranoid few ten-days trying to settle down. Every attempt to approach any place with her lightsabers showing had ended the same way, if clones were present.

Now, she was on one of her forays to better understand herself and her place in the Galaxy. Seventeen years old when the Purge shattered the Order, she had already been a veteran of almost three full years, in some of the worst fighting. Now, two years later, she was a nineteen year old cynic, providing strategy and training to idealistic politicians and gritty survivors alike while trying to become fluent in the ways of the Force with no teacher to guide her.

Worst of all, she knew her former teacher wasn't even dead. Bail Organa had never meant to tell her, but his pitying eyes had lingered too long, and she had drawn the truth out. Her Master was the slaughterer of innocents now, and she could not rest until she ended his terror.

Now, however, she was taking a much-needed break from training, her clothes and lightsabers on the bank of the small river she'd found, letting the water cool her down from the exercise and hunting of earlier. Too much a soldier to mind dirt when she was busy, she also was too much of one to ignore the chance to be clean… after she'd filled her ship's tanks and her canteen. The Revwiens rarely came near her, despite having guided her to their world to learn of the Tyia traditions of the Force.

She'd never known sentient plants in her past.

There was a rock, just large enough for her to sit on and let the lazy current sweep past her, closing her eyes as she enjoyed the water and the remaining sun, not quite meditating so much as touching the Force and allowing it to touch her to make its wishes known. She would know if any threat came near.

* * *

Rex kept his face covered when he dealt with the Revwiens, feeling the prickle on his skin of the Force being strong in these strange plant beings. His pantomime of a Togruta montral set and lekku had gotten him bobs of the odd heads, flutters of their appendages, and a rough direction and distance to travel from one who managed Basic. He thought they might be too trusting, but then he recalled those tingles. He wasn't certain why he was usually aware of the Force being used on him, other than high exposure to the Generals and the Commander. 

He left his ship at what passed for a port, little more than a smuggler's run, and paid off the local chief of same. From the looks of things, it would be safe there, but he bypassed a few key systems just in case. Settling a pack on his shoulders, Rex gamely set out to find the Commander, head full of ideas for tackling the problem of both his enslaved brothers and those he had found already.

* * *

Ahsoka's eyes came open and her full lightsaber flew to her hand in the same motion as her rising from the rock, turning to face the intruding life form. She did not feel threat, but the life did not feel native, either. With a bounty on the head of any Jedi, she dared not ignore the arrival.

She found herself staring at the mismatched armor of what could be a bounty hunter, bipedal and probably humanoid, wearing goggles and a face scarf. More, there was a faint familiarity to this person, one that eluded her for the moment in the face of a need to protect herself.

"I'm certain you won't need that, Commander," came a voice she knew more than any other from her life. It haunted her dreams, chased her through nightmares, yet… the inflection and that familiarity buzzed through her veins with electric life all their own.

"Rex?" she questioned, watching his hands carefully. 

"Permission to unmask, sir?"

She had to smile at that, even as she warily felt for him in the Force… and she reveled in that strong, loyal, distinct presence flooding into her after a heartbeat of opening to it.

"It's you, but I wouldn't mind seeing your face, my friend," she admitted.

* * *

Rex reached up to unwrap the scarf, wishing that she would move out of the stream and find her clothing! When he'd last seen her, she'd still been plump in the face, baby-fat as the civvies called her, and just hitting a gangly growth spurt. Now… if not for the markings he knew as well as his own designs for his armor, he might not have recognized that girl as this woman. She stood tall, with long, slender limbs, and he'd seen that the central headtail was easily the length of the ones in front now. Her montrals had lengthened, and were beginning to curve differently, while the lekku pattern had subtly changed with their growth.

Once he had the scarf down, he took the goggles off, clipping them to his belt and looked at her, forcing his eyes to remain solely above her shoulders in deference to modesty… since she obviously didn't seem to have any! As their eyes met across the distance, she finally deactivated her lightsaber.

"It is good to see you, Rex," she said, making him wonder about her smarts.

"I could still be luring you to drop your guard, to kill you as happened to the others," he made himself say gruffly.

"You would have done it from a distance, my friend, and I never would have known," she said with certainty. 

The worst part of it was he hoped she was right, that if he had ever fallen to the chip, he would have been merciful in killing his Jedi.

"Do you mind putting on your kriffing clothes, please? It's rather odd to be carrying on a conversation with you, in the middle of the wilds, with you stark-naked!"

Her laughter, at his disagreement with her state of undress, just told him he had come to the right person, just as his heart had told him to. The Commander was what he needed in his life.

* * *

Ahsoka pulled the stuffed bird off the spit and cut it in half, putting one part in front of Rex, before leaning back against her pack. She still couldn't quite believe he was here with her, that he was free and safe from the nightmare that had stolen the _Vod'e_ from themselves. 

She touched the Force as they ate in silence, trying to decide the next move in this life she led. Everything felt wide open to her, outside the darkness she dared not touch, leaving the choice to her. She watched Rex as he ate, having been slightly suspicious of the wild-caught food when he had offered rations, trying to get any clue she could from him. The mismatched armor was a useful disguise, but now, this close, she could see the splashes of blue, the _Jaig_ eyes etched into it strategically. He had not given up his identity in trying to survive.

"You're doing that Jedi thing," he commented, halfway through the meal. "All quiet and think and observe. Didn't know you knew how to do that."

She had to laugh at that, and it felt good, to actually let the happiness flow. It was a rare feeling now, had been ever since Barriss betrayed her. "I have to decide what to do now, Rex. I never expected to see you again, was too afraid to find out what happened to you, to be honest," she told him. "But you're here now. I'm not used to working with anyone all the time, but… you're Rex."

She said it in a tone of announcing a fundamental truth of the galaxy, and was confused to see his cheeks darken, as if he embarrassed. Why would he be? Rex had been her teacher, her guardian in some ways, her friend… and possibly the most important person in her life outside of Anakin.

And she had lost Anakin forever.

"Came looking for you, Commander —"

"Ahsoka," she corrected, firmly.

"Ahsoka," he conceded, "because I've been gathering up the _Vod'e_ who escaped the Order, either through injury or isolation, and taking them to safety. I get the chip out, work with them through the issues, and then tuck them away to stay low, keep training, and wait for orders."

"There's no one left to give orders, Rex," she said patiently. "It would be suicide for any Jedi to show themselves openly, and the _Vod'e_ are hated now, for that, on worlds where the Jedi were actually revered."

"There's you," he said, eyes meeting hers with a fervent faith.

"I'm no Jedi," she reminded.

"No. But you know us, you have our trust, and I know you aren't just sitting by, doing nothing, Ahsoka." He jerked his chin up sharply. "The Generals taught you better, and it's your nature. That's why you were near Cut, learning more from him, from the retired _Vod'e_ I funneled to Saleucami. It's where I picked up your trail."

"Cut and Suu were kind to me. And I could help our brothers there, the ones with injuries and feeling they were wasted meat now," she said, seeing that flare of emotion in his eyes at her words. The flavor of it was pride, and something softer, in the Force, and she had to half-smile. "Yes, I still think of them as our brothers, not just yours. Clannish by nature, my people. Having a billion of you to claim just made me happier."

"The garrison there… they tried to pull the brothers back into service, in menial positions. There were riots… and when it ended, I shuffled them off-world as fast as I could. Getting good at slicing transponders even," he admitted. "Hated fighting our own, but they'd hate living with what they were even worse, if they knew the truth."

Ahsoka nodded, reached out to lay a hand on his. "It's the only way I can live with myself, when I have faced them down. I know they were more than this, and any who actually killed Jedi, or other innocents, would have preferred death."

"So what do we do?" Rex asked, turning his hand palm up to hold her fingers lightly. Through the contact, she could feel his emotions buzzing with more than just hope; it was an expectation.

She closed her eyes, and touched on her responsibilities. Bail wished to be careful in building their resistance to the Empire, because the Emperor had spent too long putting his pieces in place. There were too many traps still waiting to be sprung. On the whole, she agreed. But that didn't mean she couldn't use the _Vod'e_ who had escaped as part of it, answerable to herself in cells that were separate from what she had built so far with Bail.

It might even work to her advantage to have them, to use them to train others, without mingling them overtly.

"You will be over the _Vod'e_ ," she finally told Rex, squeezing his hand to silence the immediate protest. "I will give you missions, yes. I will ask you to provide personnel, shelter, training at various points. I ask you to trust me and ask no questions, that asking questions become something we all avoid. With… _him_ at the Emperor's side, the less any person knows, the better it will be for all. I am the Fulcrum; you will be my Lever," she said, opening her eyes. "Can you do this for me, Rex? Can you work without open agenda and under a constant black-out on security?"

"For you, yes," he swore, not even hesitating. 

She smiled, then leaned in and kissed his cheek lightly, leaving him no time to duck the action or question it before she returned to eating her meal.

She caught out of the corner of her eye when he reached up a moment later to touch the spot.

* * *

When they made it back to the settlement, there was the problem of two ships, neither one of which could dock to the other, and Rex grew uneasy. Ahsoka solved the problem for him by making an executive decision. 

"Yours has a clean transponder and so does mine. I've got friends that will take the two, and give us one we can share in trade," she promised him. "Set course for Asation and we'll meet up there."

"I don't care for being separated; you're certain we can't make a deal with the smugglers here?"

She snorted. "Positive; only Hutt rejects come out this far to hide." Ahsoka leaned in, kissing his cheek, and she got to see the slight flush of color this time. It was making her curious; had he come to find her strictly out of a sense of duty, or was there more?

She was hoping for the latter, but not willing to push. First and foremost, he was her friend, and he did have the extra baggage of having known her before she had to finish growing up.

It gave her plenty to think on for the short jump to Asation, as she packed up her meager ship-side belongings, mostly tiny little mementos she had kept from her life before the galaxy fell into _dar'yaim_.

* * *

"Fulcrum's a name I've heard in certain corners of the galaxy," Rex told Ahsoka, once she had them outbound again and she had relaxed back from the controls. She turned to look at him, the delicate white line above one eyebrow rising in curiosity. 

"Oh?"

"Rumors, rumors of a rebellion, of a mystery person feeding information to those worlds that want to break free of the Empire," he continued. "Never heard it as belonging to a Togruta, nor a Force user."

"That's because I have learned to be careful, my friend, hard as it may be for you to believe," she told him.

He looked her over, knowing those hilts were different on her lightsabers, seeing how she had modded armor to work for her needs, protecting chest, lower arms, and lower legs. She wore a different headdress now, too. He'd learned the one she had as his Commander had been a mark of honor among her people, earned much like his _Jaig_ eyes. The insets of this one might still be akul teeth, he thought. All in all, she had the look of quiet danger, not boisterous energy as she had when with the Army.

"I believe it," he finally said, aware he'd been looking far longer than maybe necessary. He'd noted, again, that what showed of her arms was all hard muscle, and the leggings she wore gave the impression her legs were as solid.

She gave him a slow smile, one that was accompanied by a wriggle of lekku and more vibrant coloring there. He wondered just why, and what that meant in her physical language. "Good. Because I'm going to be asking you to be my right hand in all this."

"This being ending the Empire?"

"Yes."

"My life and service are yours, Ahsoka," he told her. " _Aliit ori'shya tal'din,_ " he added.

" _Elek_ ," she answered, reaching out to take his hand in hers. "We are family, and my life is yours, our service together," she swore to him. " _Haat, Ijaa, Haa'it._ "

He drew in a deep breath, squeezed her hand, and then started to pull back. She tightened her hold for a moment, then let go and turned away, her face schooling into the smooth lines of projected calm. He wondered at that, at the attempt to hold on, but pushed it to the back of his mind; he was back with her which was what mattered most.

* * *

They were on Nakadia the first time they saw combat together. Rex had settled into Ahsoka's life as easily as if the missing years had vanished, listening to her Force insights, while providing the senior, more experienced tactical read of their situations. Now, several ten-days into their journey together, chasing rumors of a potential Force user on the planet, Rex learned that his Commander had matured in more ways than those biological.

The squad of troopers, wearing the newer armor of the Empire, totally bereft of the individuality Rex had seen through the GAR, had been bad enough. 

The completely cloaked figure, wearing a metallic face mask, was using a red lightsaber. Worse, they were using it very well, moving smoother than even Asajj Ventress had in her fights. And yet…

Rex kept seeing his Commander move at blazing speed, her lightsabers always on mark to deflect the blows aimed her way, even as she kept assisting him with the stormtroopers. There was a rhythm to her motion, working with him, working against them, that was pure battle spirit and survival in a dance of life.

It was the most beautiful thing Rex had ever seen, and he hated that he was too busy shooting to fully appreciate it.

He was in position to see when she was able to fully focus on the fight with the Inquisitor, as the last trooper fell. Rex could almost see fear coiling off the Inquisitor as the sound of the blaster died. Rex aimed that way, but he would never insult her by taking the fight she obviously had under control.

One moment, Ahsoka was standing in front of the other being, both sabers in hand, that odd reverse grip on the shorter one. The next, she was in the air, making the red lightsaber track her, focused on the longer of the blades.

It was the short one that slashed across the Inquisitor's calves, as Ahsoka landed, and the being turned, half-stumbling, from the dual surface injuries… falling right into the path of a solid heart thrust from Ahsoka's primary blade.

She took the time to destroy the lightsaber the being had used, then she walked steadily his way.

Rex couldn't find a mark on her with his eyes, while his own armor had at least one new scorch to be buffed out. She wasn't even breathing hard.

It tore at his chest a little that neither Kenobi, nor Skywalker in his right mind, could see what their Padawan had become.

* * *

On their ship, safely in hyperspace, Ahsoka turned and looked at Rex, taking in where the scorch marks had hit his armor. She frowned, noting one had moved close to where the arm pieces met the torso armor. 

"Get out of that gear, Rex, and let me check your arm and shoulder," she said.

"I'm fine, Ahsoka," he protested, but the look on her face was one he remembered from his General, the one that said 'obey'. He sighed and started slipping the catches off, wincing once when the upper arm piece scraped.

So possibly some of the blast had gotten through.

Ahsoka moved and went to get the medkit, coming back swiftly as he was settling in the chair, unsealing his body suit to let the arm be looked at. It was obvious from the way the material had collapsed in the area of the join of the armor that yes, he had taken a graze.

The woman tried to push aside the fact that she really appreciated the way he looked beneath that concealing body suit, when it was pushed off to reveal skin only slightly paler than his face. She was very professional as she cleaned the scorch mark, then applied bacta and a bandage over it.

"Should I be checking you over for hits you didn't notice?" Rex asked sardonically.

She gave him a wicked smile at that, and set the medkit down to reach up and remove her own armor plate, before moving on to release the arm and leg guards as well, leaving her in her tight bodice and leggings.

"By all means, Rex, do check," she said, and he had to take a deep breath. Her lekku were that vibrant color again, and twitching ever so slightly, but he stood and looked over where the armor did not protect, turning her with a hand on her shoulder to inspect the back of her shoulders… and lower.

"Well, you came away unscratched."

"I know."

She dropped down in her seat, not bothering with the armor, even as he slipped his top back into place. "We got lucky," she admitted. "That was bad intel, and nothing that let us know the Empire already had agents there."

"It happened to us more than a few times in the war," he reminded her, keeping his attention on his body suit and not the way she looked like a predator contemplating its next hunt.

"Yes, but in the war, we knew other units could pick up from us if we failed. This? We don't have that fallback." She picked up the breastplate, tapping at its controls. He had to look over then; he knew her armor had sensors and communication gear built in but he'd never seen her use them. 

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Prepping the data recorded during the fight to our allies to send when we break hyperspace. Inquisitors are becoming more and more of a problem, and teams with no Force users need to be able to study them, to work out effective strategies against them." Ahsoka gave him a sharp smile. "By killing the Jedi the way they did, they broke the myth of a Jedi being indestructible by non-Force users. We're returning the favor with these Sith-spawn."

"Ahh." That made a lot of sense, and considered whether to add combat-capture sensors to his own gear.

"Encryption is going to be harder and harder to keep secure, so we're sending the information as quickly as we can to be pushed out," Ahsoka continued. "Eventually, the plan is to switch to hand-offs of data, rather than rely on data feeds. 

"Tiers?"

"Sort of. We're keeping cells tied by multiple attachments, but in such a way that each cell can only betray a handful of agents at any given time." She finished fiddling with her gear, then picked it all up. "Take first shower; the tanks are full, the reclamation unit seems to be working perfectly well. I'm going to meditate a while."

Rex nodded at that, gathering up his own armor. That Ahsoka was hip deep in the rebellion against the Empire made perfect sense. What didn't, he realized, was that she seemed to possibly be one of the leaders, given how she discussed matters.

How had she been close enough to whomever her allies were to get in at the top? He knew she'd been on Saleucami when the order was given… so what had she done when she dove into the Core in those first few ten-days?

* * *

There was a cabin, that had two berths. Rex and Ahsoka both were no strangers to tight quarters, and too military to pay much mind to it. Or so each had agreed when they opted not to convert the other cabin that had been stripped down for holding supplies; they needed that for transporting any others they found in their missions.

Concessions to modesty involved simply averting eyes, turning backs, or merely choosing different times to use the cabin. That, however, did not guard either one of them from being aware of the other during sleep. They each had heard the other experiencing night terrors, usually in the form of restless movement, hard breathing, or choked off cries.

Rex was the first to decide he had reached his limit for not knowing, and when he awakened one ship-night to the sound of Ahsoka actively sobbing into her pillow, he rolled to his feet and padded over quietly… stopping out of the range of her legs or arms.

"Commander?"

His use of the title had its desired effect; she stiffened, and then fully woke from the dream she was trapped in.

"Rex?"

"May I sit with you?" he asked.

She answered by shifting on the berth, tucking her legs up as she sat up in the head portion, leaving him the lower half. He sat there, putting his back to the wall.

"Kix would skin me if I let you suffer, you know? He kept reminding me that the mind was as much subject to injury as the body. And we all know where I categorize the mind in my array of weapons."

She gave a small snort. "Number one." She wrapped her arms around her knees. "Not like you've offered up what makes you kick the covers free, or pull your DC-17s up into the bed with you without waking."

He looked over at her in the faint illumination of the cabin. She was looking back at him, but he couldn't really see if her lekku were moving, the way she was sitting. Nor was the light strong enough for him to read the color level, but he felt like she was avoiding the issue by focusing on him instead.

Well, Kix had walked him through a few tough cases like this. "I see my men in the Temple. And I want to stop them, but I'm not being heard. I'm just able to see, as they kill the Jedi there." He took a deep breath. "The younglings, because I know kriffing well that every Jedi above a certain age, or nearly, was in the field by that point."

She flinched. "I didn't know you knew it had been _our_ brothers there." He nodded solemnly.

"I gave the unit to Appo, with the General's blessing, before I took that leave, to go find out about the chip, see what could be done," he told her. "By the time I was up from surgery, it had happened. I knew where our brothers were, who else was there… and knew it had to have been them, when I got the first confirmation from a squad I'd mixed into for intel."

She unfolded one arm and reached for his hand.

"I'm sorry, Rex," she said, and he felt the weight of guilt in those words.

"You weren't there --"

"I know! And because I wasn't there, my Master **fell**! I wasn't there to try and stop him from going mad! I wasn't --" 

He couldn't take the pitch of her voice, the way she was starting to rock, and he moved closer, drawing her in just like she was still that kid dealing with the bad side of a war. She leaned her head on his shoulder, careful of her montrals, and just shook a little in his hold.

He wrapped his head around that, though, the idea that his General was part of the madness that had taken over the galaxy. "Skywalker?" He'd hoped, prayed even, that he had been wrong about his suspicions along those lines.

She went stiff, and he hastened to rub his hand along her shoulder. She took a deep breath, trying to answer that questioning tone. "I suspected. I'd been having awful dreams, but I thought -- Rex, I thought it was just me imagining the worst, because I was not there! I went from Saleucami toward Coruscant, as fast as I could, and everywhere I went… it was so ugly."

"I know. I saw." He rubbed along her shoulder, mindful to keep his fingertips from grazing her lekku. 

"One of my allies, he knew for certain. He didn't tell me how, but… it just confirmed what I knew. With the Senator dead," and Rex knew just which one, had seen the state funeral on a holo-cast, "I knew." She pulled her head up, looking at him solidly. "I can't stop until I stop him. You understand, don't you?"

His chest grew cold as he saw the pain, the resolution, and fear lurking there. She would try… and now he understood why she was so lean, so strong, and so blindingly fast now. She meant to take out the Emperor's mad dog, not just because it was right for the Republic, but because it was **him**.

"I'll be right there with you, _vod_ ," he promised her. "No idea how they broke him to their wishes, but my General will not be left that way if I can help it."

She gave a shudder at that, then leaned back in, but this time her face settled in the crook of shoulder and neck, a light kiss grazing his skin there. "I know. Together, vod. Together."

The silence took them then, as the weight of their burden settled more evenly on both sets of shoulders. Rex didn't want to move, didn't want to leave her to the darkness, or go back to his own.

Somehow, propped on each other, sleep came peacefully.

* * *

Ahsoka put a crate in front of Rex as she came back from her errand on Werncin III, her face distinctly set in lines that were anything but happy. Worse, her lekku were muted and still. She then shrugged off a cargo net that had paint in it.

"I hate slavers."

Rex flashed back to the time he -- no, he could not think about her in chains.

"What's this?" he asked instead.

"Gear. They've got some of ours here," she said. "I want the _vod'e_ to know who's coming for them this time."

His entire spine stiffened, and rage fanned high.

"What about you?"

"I'm not so bad with a blaster," she reminded him before going to get her DC-17s, gifts from the troops so long ago it felt like a lifetime had passed, ready for her plan. It left him time to open the chest, finding a shiny set of armor waiting for him. He half-smiled; he still had most of his own gear, but he could use this to swap out the pieces that were too worn. She must not have known that was what was in the footlocker he never got into. A look at the paint… yeah, just the right shade of blue. He took it all to get ready, knowing she was probably already planning out the assault.

* * *

The black and gray robe with hood kept Ahsoka's markings hidden, but she was still very much a Togruta. They'd had this problem before. However, the lightsabers were firmly hidden, and in their place, she toted blasters twin to his own.

Rex was in full kit, even to the helmet. It felt good, he decided, to make this run on the slaver's pen to break free his brothers under his own identity. He had no intention of leaving a slaver alive to identify him, but the troops would know.

Then he saw the troops in question, not a one without some visible disability, and his guts twisted. No wonder Ahsoka wanted him in his own gear; these men needed it. He listened to the song of the blasters, his and hers, and let that be counter to the song of pain in his heart for the men.

* * *

The six men they had rescued were sitting in the second cabin, along the walls, eating a generous meal that Ahsoka had brought to them, along with medical supplies and clothing. She stayed hidden inside her cloak, and left Rex to debrief them as she got them into space, away from the planet that had so angered them.

He briefly wondered where Kix was, wishing he could have the medic's strong, steadying presence.

"You all know who I am. What unit are you from?"

The six men looked at him, wanting to come to attention, but he'd told them to stay seated, save their energy for eating and patching each other up. Finally, one with a spear-point tattoo over his eye spoke.

"CN-2109, sir, named Points, squad leader for these men, sir," the trooper said. He was missing two fingers from one hand and had a blaster scar along the side of his head, right where the chip should be. "CN-2113, sir, named Wiz, electronics specialist." He pointed to the trooper with a lightning bolt shaved into his hair, which was ragged now from growth. That man was wearing an eyepatch and had a twisted, limping gait. "CN-2114, called Snipes." This trooper was missing an arm from mid forearm, with a rough prosthetic that seemed to be carved and immobile strapped on. "CN-2112 is there, and is called Gunner." This one just looked wasted, sickly, and too thin. "CN-2115 and CN-2111, Wreck and Roll," he finished, pointing to the two brothers sitting closest to one another, one with a central stripe of hair taller than the rest, and the other with an inverse version of that haircut. They had vicious electro-whip scars on their faces, hands, and arms where they were exposed.

Rex felt a surge of hope for these men. They were all one batch, which meant they had to have been surviving on that bond more than anything else. 

"As to our unit, sir, we were attached to the 91st, detached to General Adi Gallia," Points said, lifting his chin defiantly as he said his Jedi's name. "We were captured at Deveron, and instead of killing us, they made us slaves."

"Kriff!" Rex stared at them all in sudden awe. That they had survived, that they held themselves up despite their privations and injuries, after four years in slavery was more than admirable to him. "What do you know about recent events in the Galaxy?"

"There's an Empire, the Republic burned, and the war is over?" Wiz offered. "Sir," he added.

"Knock that off; there's no Army for us anymore either." Rex took a deep breath. "Order 66 didn't reach you lot."

Points tipped his head to one side. "Sir?" he asked, not certain what that order pertained to.

"Alright, _vod'e_ , keep eating, get your injuries tended, and I'm going to tell you what happened in the years you were missed." Rex folded himself down to sitting, and settled to telling them the whole, awful tragedy.

* * *

"Not a one has the chip," Rex said, late that night, or maybe early the next morning. He'd stayed with them, helped them work through their grief to find out Adi Gallia had died; she'd been liked by them for her quick battle plans. "Slavers must have decided they were risks with our tech in their heads. And the med-droid found the explosives that you shorted out, just to get rid of them."

Ahsoka hadn't moved since he came in and flung himself down on the decking beside where she had been meditating. She kept her eyes closed, but her lekku were twitching in almost violent spasms as he told her their story. 

"Gunner's worst off, for current health. They've all got scars and trauma and I need Kix so bad I can taste it!" he growled.

That did get her to move, one hand coming to rest on his hair, fingernails lightly scratching through the texture of it at the skin of his scalp. It felt… soothing, and he closed his eyes at last, just letting her do what she wanted.

"I'll do what I can for Gunner. We're going to have to ground for a while, somewhere safe, to take care of them, figure out where to let them start over," Ahsoka said.

Rex made a noise at that. "They want in. They want to fight for us, Ahsoka. Points said they didn't do their share against the Seppies and they want to fight for the Republic now."

She opened her own eyes to look down at him, measuring his conviction in those words, and knew he believed them.

"Then we take them to Dantooine. I know a place where we can help them regain their strength, and then you will take them to the colony we made there for the _Vod'e_."

"Mmm, that should work." Rex rolled onto his back, opening his eyes again to look up at her in the dim light. "How many brothers did we count among the dead, who aren't?"

"We'll find out as we go, Rex. We'll add intel on suspected brothers to suspected Force users, and find them." She moved her fingers from his scalp to his cheek, resting them there briefly. "Why don't we skip the separate nightmares, and you share your berth with me for sleep?" she asked him bluntly, not wanting to wake to his choked off noises of battles he couldn't win.

Rex knew he shouldn't need that, shouldn't even want it, but… she was his partner, through and through, and he knew she was right. "Just stop shoving all the blankets on me," he said gruffly, before sitting up to go ready for sleep.

She followed, already stripped down to what she preferred to sleep in.

* * *

Something had fully shifted, Rex realized. Whether it was the shared anger for their own people, or talking about the nightmares that were their lives by night, he knew there was a new level between himself and his Commander. When she brushed a kiss against his cheek or hair, he didn't stare or wonder; it was what she did. More often than not, they were in a single berth, especially if they dealt with anything that raised their past over them.

He found himself more willing to be the one to reach out for her hand, or to lay a hand on her shoulder casually. The contact soothed her, and he found it helped his own sense of unease in the face of their impossible mission.

She didn't push past that level, though, and he wondered, because she still looked at him in ways that he could not fully sort out. Her lekku twitched when he stroked her shoulder, brushing against his chest with whispering touches when they were settled in to sleep.

By the end of their first year together, Rex was almost more confused at his place in her life than he'd been just trying to get to her under the pressing drive that he had to find her.

Worse, he was very much aware of the fact that he wanted to move to a different place with her, and yet he wasn't certain he should risk the rapport they already had.

* * *

There were certain things that Rex had gotten used to. One was that Ahsoka often just _did_ without _telling_ first.

Which was how he managed to not growl when she rubbed his arm down, a hypodermic in her other hand, after she'd pulled one of those magic appearances into his space. He raised an eyebrow at her instead as she uncapped the needle to use it on him.

"Ahsoka?"

"Intel on all of you. My friend on Alderaan discovered something and this will protect you. We're going to have to go visit every enclave we've created for our brothers with this, but you are getting it now!" 

There was that note in her voice, the one that meant she was very upset and fighting to contain it. He felt the contents of the needle sliding in, a small twinge of discomfort, but he was watching her face. When she capped and tossed the needle, after finishing it off, she just gave him a little push to sit back from the workbench. Bemused, he did so, and found himself with a lap full of his partner.

"What kind of intel?" he asked her, even as he situated her to where he could be comfortable and keep arms around her waist.

"The aging didn't stop with maturity, Rex. I'd noticed the lines, but I'm not used to Human aging. The Empire came up with a reverse for it, and my friend was able to access it, duplicate it, so we can help our brothers." She looked at him seriously. "I am not losing you to old age, Rex. I refuse!"

Her words worked through his head, the first part with the aging. He had not really thought about it, but he was just as glad to have it halted… and then the rest of her words kicked him in the chest.

"Lose me, Commander? Hardly. You're stuck with me, the rest of our lives," he said, trying to tease her away from that hard edge of emotion that made her prickle along his nerves. 

"Good." That she prayed to the Force and the gods of her people that they went out together she did not have to say. "I've got enough serum for all the ones we've found so far. I can get more if we need it," she whispered, but she burrowed into his hold on her, until he felt the press of her headdress against his neck.

He couldn't understand why she was so upset, when she could be as cold as ice in battle or facing the unknown of a negotiation. "Good. We'll have to be careful, moving from one to the next of the enclaves, but we can handle it." He gave up on the idea of working any further on modding his rifle, and just let her cling to him.

He wondered if there was more he could do, to help her, other than hold her, but all the ideas coming to mind were in that nebulous territory of emotional land-mines.

* * *

They were on Saleucami. Despite the local garrison, Ahsoka had insisted on coming down with Rex, and she was the one that broke the news of the aging issue to them.

Suu all but broke down in tears to know there was a fix for it, and Cut… well, Rex had to glance away for a moment as he saw the way Cut watched Suu, all that worship and amazement on the brother's face for how his wife loved him. The couple insisted they stay the night, after Cut had been inoculated and the directions explained to Suu and him both, to help the few brothers they had guided this way.

Later, as Cut showed Rex around to the improvements on the property, the family man spoke up. "You seem more uncomfortable about Suu and I now than when you first crashed with us, Captain."

"What? No. You've got a fine family." Rex snorted. "The younglings sure have grown a lot."

"Jek and Shaeeah are wonderful." Cut smiled proudly. "I suppose you and your partner are moving around too much to adopt any, but it's a thought for your future," he added, meaning it to be a lightly teasing remark.

Rex suddenly couldn't breathe as he heard all the assumptions in those words. "The Commander's very much her own woman, even if we are mission partners!" he finally managed to say. 

Cut's face twisted up in confusion at that. "Really? Hmm, Togruta lekku must have different linguistics than Twi'lek ones." 

"What do you mean?" Rex asked, curious. Of course Cut would have been learning lekku meanings, as Suu was full Twi'lek, and both children sported small ones despite being half-human.

Cut shook his head. "No, Rex, I don't think I should say, if she's not spoken to you in words," he decided. "I'd rather not anger a Force user by breaching her privacy."

* * *

They were en route to Dantooine before Rex could get a minute alone with Ahsoka, as she had been working with Suu, or spending time with the younglings… neither of whom were all that young anymore.

Just like Ahsoka wasn't. That was something that had been sliding around under his skin for months now, had started the moment he found her again, and really sinking in as he watched the cool, precise manner she handled her side of the Rebellion with.

What had Cut seen in her lekku? Would she tell him if he asked? Or would he be risking everything he valued in the life they shared for something that was only a phantom ache in his soul?

"You're thinking awful hard, Rex, old boy," Ahsoka said with a bright tone to her voice. "Makes it hard to stick to my promise to stay out of your head when you're that loud about thinking."

"Never asked that of you," he retorted, though he did try to push the matter back for now.

"I know. But much as it might help me understand you sometimes, it's rude and against our friendship for me to do more than rely on your Force signature in combat." She stood up from the pilot's chair now the ship was secure on its way, and stretched. "Don't burn a fuse thinking," she added, before moving to go to their small mess, intent on a snack and caf.

Rex waited half a minute, then followed, where he leaned in the door to watch her until she was not using a sharp knife to cut open a ration pack.

"Ahsoka, Cut made an assumption on planet," he started. She looked up at him, the line of her markings rising above one eye. "He thought you and I were partnered the way he and Suu are. Said… he might have mistaken the language of your lekku, since he knows Twi'lek, not Togruta." That all spilled out as fast as he could get it out, just to have it said.

"Hmm." Ahsoka prodded the ration heater to work, before turning to get her caf, with just that noise, and Rex had never wanted to grab her shoulders so much as right then, to get an answer. Just when he was about to speak again, she did break the silence. "Cut is both right and wrong. I see you as the only _riduur_ I can see wanting. But you have not made up your mind, so it is nothing." 

She stirred sweetener into her caf as Rex just stared at her, and he slowly realized her lekku had gone stock-still and pale in their markings, that her slim shoulders were solidly back and stiff. She looked, he slowly understood, like she was afraid. Afraid of his next words, even.

"Were you ever going to say something?" he exploded at her. 

She set her mug down carefully, and faced him, eyes locking with his. "Probably. I may be better at patience now than I was… but I was trying to give you as much time as you needed to be able to see me as I am! Not as I was."

Rex stared at her, and then he just sank back against the bulkhead. "You… how long?"

"I knew you were the only being I wanted as my mate since shortly after leaving the Order… and told myself I was being a dumb kid," she admitted honestly. "Then you walked back into my life, and the feelings were the same. Except I'd had a lot of time to realize I was still that 'youngling' on Christophsis to you in a lot of ways, and that was … icky." She smiled at him for the word choice. "So I knew I had to wait. And we were getting there." She looked down, and he could see by her lekku that she was no closer to shedding her fear than before she spoke. 

"I haven't been able to see the padawan," and he stressed the word the same way she had corrected him that long ago day, "almost since I found you again, Ahsoka." He moved forward, joining her at the small counter. It made her look up, and that let him lean down, not so far with all the height she'd gotten, to kiss her lips lightly.

She hesitated a heartbeat, then brought one hand up on his chest, the other settling at his waist, and kissed him back more firmly. When they parted, she was looking into his eyes, and whatever she found must have put her fears away, because he discovered that being kissed and having lekku moving against his chest was one of the best sensations in the galaxy.

**Author's Note:**

> Mando'a used:
> 
> Dar'yaim = hell  
> Vod'e=Brothers  
> Vod=brother/sister/comrade  
> Aliit ori'shya tal'din - "Family is more than blood."  
> Haat, Ijaa, Haa'it - "Truth, Honor, Vision"—said when sealing a pact  
> Elek = yes  
> Riduur=husband/wife

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Belonging to Her](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6701179) by [Merfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly)




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